1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a spectroscopic detection device and a confocal microscope provided with the spectroscopic detection device, and more specifically to a spectroscopic detection device provided with a dispersive element as a spectroscopic device and an optical filter, and a confocal microscope provided with the spectroscopic detection device.
2. Description of the Related Art
At present, a spectroscopic device used for a spectroscopic detection device is roughly classified into a dispersive element such as a prism, a diffraction grating, etc. and a wavelength selection filter such as a dichroic filter (dichroic mirror), a barrier filter, etc.
The spectroscopic detection device using a dispersive element (hereafter referred to as a spectroscopic detection device in a dispersive element system) may perform multi-channel detection with a wavelength resolution higher than that of the spectroscopic detection device using a wavelength selection filter (hereafter referred to as a spectroscopic detection device in a filter system), and is capable of easily change the wavelength range to be detected. On the other hand, the spectroscopic detection device in a filter system may realize higher detection efficiency as compared with the spectroscopic detection device in the dispersive element system.
Thus, the spectroscopic detection device in the dispersive element system and the spectroscopic detection device in the filter system have different characteristics, and have different preferable systems depending on the observation target, purpose of use, etc. Therefore, a spectroscopic detection device capable of using these systems by switching them appropriately has been developed. The spectroscopic detection device is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-10406.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-10406 discloses a fluorescent detection device, and the fluorescent detection device is provided with a mobile drive device for moving a rotating drive mirror having a diffraction grating surface. According to the fluorescent detection device disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-10406, by the mobile drive mechanism moving a rotating drive mirror, the dispersive element system and the filter system may be switched from and to each other.
The fluorescence detection device disclosed by Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-10406 has a configuration of selectively operating a rotating drive mirror having a diffraction grating surface or a wavelength selection filter for the light passed though a confocal stop and converted into parallel light by a collimator lens.